How to Study the Bible III - Introduction: Why are we doing this?

We're beginning here, and I actually have two introductions to how to study the Bible, and then we'll take a look at what's going to follow after that. One of the things that we make a point of here right off is that the Bible doesn't really go about trying to prove there's a God or argue that there is. And why is that? Why is it that the Bible doesn't go with a bunch of proofs? Because it is. What's that? Because he is. Yes, if you look at it, he is. So that's certainly the case. So it's not even that there's some point of discussion.

As a matter of fact, how is an atheist characterized? A person doesn't believe in God, and the Bible says, you know, it calls them a fool, right? A fool says in his heart there is no God, right? That's what it says more than once in the Old Testament. Why else would the Bible not spend a bunch of time trying to prove there's a God or anything of that sort?

Yeah? Because He's revealed Himself in numerous other ways. Yeah, in other words, if you look at it here, the Scripture itself gives us five ways that God has revealed Himself. One is in nature. And what does nature reveal about God? Does nature reveal that Christ died for your sins and was buried and rose again? Nature doesn't reveal that. What does nature reveal?

That God has a plan. God has a plan. The power of God. Yeah, the power of God. The beauty and the organization. His creativity. His creativity, on the one hand, And then, but there's also, you mentioned organization. I mean, there's a lot of variety out there in nature, but there also is a certain sense of order, right?

You know, you don't get up in the morning and wonder, well, I wonder how long today's going to be. I wonder where the sun's going to come up or how many of them we'll have, right? We've got a certain amount of order along with the variety and creativity. And by the way, 99% of all species that have ever lived are extinct. So it means, as initially created, many, many more species. Alright, so you've got nature, you've got providence and guidance.

The guidance is to constrain the human environment so that people will seek God, right, along with that provision. And then you have conscience is another revelation. And how does conscience reveal God? How does conscience reveal God? Isn't it God's work in us revealing Himself then? Yeah, if you think about it, alright, having a conscience means that there is a sense of right and wrong.

And since we're made in the image of God, even though it's been tainted by sin, since we're made in the image of God, that is a reflection of God's moral character. So then we have the special revelations, which are Scripture and Jesus Christ himself. So those are the special revelations.

Why didn't God just drop out the scripture thing? Why didn't God just drop that out? Yes, Tom? Okay, alright. The reality is that a lot of things we would just plain never know if it weren't revealed in scripture. Yeah, even about Christ. If you look at the things that provide evidence outside of the New Testament about Christ's coming, there are a number of things out there. And it's amazing what is out there that's outside the Bible about Christ. However, there are still an awful lot of things you just wouldn't know. if you didn't have that. Now, we've got the next question there.

Since God was so intentional, what did God intend? And I said there's at least a handful of interpretations offered for just about every passage of scripture, and for some passages, even more than a handful. Then there's the plethora of personal opinions and personal impressions. Did God intend that there be a range of interpretations for every passage? Is that what God had in mind? No. No. Stan? Well, I think that's why he wrote a scripture. Because he realized that everybody was going to have an opinion. Yeah. Everybody's going to have an opinion, but here it's revealed.

Did God have in mind that we remain uncertain about what the Bible says? Some years ago we had a fellow here who was a student at Colorado Christian University, and one of his professors said, if somebody tells you that they know what the Bible means, that's heresy. This is crazy, right? And in fact, we're going to go the exact opposite direction. Does God want us to simply embrace the diversity of opinions and be united anyway, agree to disagree? No. God intended to reveal what He revealed.

And so here we have 1 Corinthians 1.10, and we've got some particular notes there. So it says, Now I exhort you, brethren. So here's Paul writing to the believers of Corinth, who, by the way, are deeply divided, right? If you read through the rest of the book, that's abundantly clear.

I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, literally, that you all say the same thing. By the way, is there a difference between agreeing and saying the same thing? In other words, it isn't just that you agree and keep your mouth shut. It is that you actually express the same thing. It is literally what the original language says. And that there be no divisions among you. Let's ask this question. Is there a biblical basis for denominations, for Christian denominations? There really is not. There really is not a biblical basis for Christian denominations. But that you'd be made complete. This made complete is karakizo.

It's a word used for mending nets and setting broken bones. How many people have had a broken bone? Why do you set the broken bone? So that it heals properly. I once met a fellow who had two elbows. He had an elbow here that moved, and an elbow here, in the middle of his forearm, that didn't move. It was because things weren't properly set. This is a word that was used for mending nets and setting broken bones. and it's the idea that you be mended and healed up.

So having all kinds of different opinions and having different divisions and what not is not what God intended. So then, and be in the same mind So you're saying the same thing starts from being in the same mind, right? My brother translated this actually in the one same mind and in the same judgment. In Romans, Paul writes to the church at Rome and says that you glorify the Lord with one mouth and he speaks plural. that our message, starting from the mind, our message and our communication is all in the same line. It all lines up.

Paul also wrote to Titus, his personal delegate, on tough assignment to the island of Crete. Why was Titus given a tough assignment at Crete? Why was that a difficult assignment? Yeah? Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was a cultural value to be deceptive in Crete. It was admired, and someone who would befriend somebody and then turn around and stab him in the back was looked upon as, hey, that's a great guy. So really bizarre culture.

So anyway, tough duty. And so what he writes to them here, Titus 1, 5 and 9, and that's the beginning and the end of the qualifications for elders. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. And verse 9, holding fast, and this is the characteristic of elders, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

Establish what's true, refute what's false. If we're really not sure what's true and not really sure what's false, how can you do that? So there needs to be certainty and singularity. So let's take a look. This is top of page two. There are also many New Testament passages that refer to the faith as a singular set of doctrines and the truth referring to the one body of truth.

Those passages include, and this is not an exhaustive list, starts in Acts chapter 6, that's the first time the faith is used, and continues on several times in Acts, and in a number of New Testament books, and in many cases multiple times, all the way to Revelation 2.13. The faith and the truth. So it's singular. The singular faith, the singular truth.

So how come we've got all these different opinions and interpretations and all that, even among churches that call themselves Christian. Why do we have all these different interpretations? What's interesting is that at this church we have all three elders, from different backgrounds. And when Hal was with us, you know, we had four from all different backgrounds.

And so to come together and to have a unity of doctrine, and sometimes we'll come together on something and talk about it a number of times in order to make sure we're on the same page, because it isn't a matter of, you know, Vern's right, Roger's right, Mike's right, but we're all convinced that God's right. We're all convinced that God's right. So it isn't a matter of personalities. Or even, you know, my background is better than your background. But it is a matter of God's right. And God had a particular intent with every verse that he had revealed.

So the Apostle John also wrote about the certainty that we are to have about what he wrote and about the resulting certainty of the knowledge of the Son of God and that we are in Him. So 1 John 5, 13 and 20. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Are you intended to know with certainty that you have eternal life? Yes.

And that's, he says, that's his purpose statement. And by the way, that's something that's particular about John is he likes to write about why he is written. So that you may know that you have eternal life and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. What's the difference between the knowing up above and then this knowing that we just read about, that we may know Him? Yeah, in other words, initially it's know with certainty, but this third one here, this last one, is knowing personally. Yeah, in other words, this is because you have a relationship with, so that we may know Him who is true. So it's personal knowledge, not just, you know, here's something about which I need to have certainty, right? And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true God and eternal life. Why does he have to put true God in there? Because there are lots of false gods. There are lots of false gods.

Let's ask this question, is someone who doesn't believe in a God or even Gods, is someone who doesn't believe in God or Gods, do they have a knowledge of the true God? No, they don't. They not only don't know about Him, but they don't know Him. I'm wondering about where it says that they're without excuse.

So to some kind of degree, or something, they do know that there is a true God. Even guys who publish multiple books and speak on tours and all that? Yes, they do have a knowledge that they're suppressing. The way the Bible talks about it is they push it down. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Let's ask this question. Does an atheist have a god, lowercase g? Yes.

Ultimately, People are incurably religious, even if they claim they have none. Because people are of such a nature, they have to put their faith somewhere. So we talk about having faith, and THE faith, and it's specific to biblical use. But the truth is, everybody has faith. It's just a question of where you put it. Some people say, well, I only believe in me.

Yes. If somebody knows God, but they have chosen to believe something else, isn't that really opposing something? Yes. Ultimately, if they're suppressing the truth, they're opposing the true God, identified here, in order to pursue the other God or God's that they have, whether they even acknowledge the existence of a god or any gods, they still have them.

Because they're putting their faith somewhere, right? Even if it's just in themselves. Let's take a look. In the middle of page two, there's some bolded words, and it's pulling together things from the previous passages that we've referred to here. And it says there, God intended to convey a singular unifying body of truth. And to have us clearly understand what is true and what is false. And to have that singular body of truth culminate in a true and intimate personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Scripture is God's written word, message of God, and Jesus Christ is the living word, message of God. So this is key. God intended to convey not four different interpretations, or six different interpretations of every passage, or not twelve. God intended to convey one singular message. with all of Scripture, and not four different ones.

You know, some people think this, some people think that. I've recently been going through the book of Revelation with Luke Jenkins, and I told him, I said, we're going to go through this verse by verse, and when we're all done, we're going to understand clearly every single verse. And we're going to understand with certainty what every verse means. the whole thing. Now, many people read through Revelation and they're going, what was that? And they're baffled by all these symbols, but I said there is a way to understand clearly and they have great certainty about what God intended to reveal here.

And so this is key. So what's bolded there in the middle of page two is It's going to be an important thing for us to understand that having several different ideas is not what God intended. God intended a singular meaning for every single verse. Alright, so we have key portions of the Holly Hills Bible Church doctrinal statement here. And the first one, the Bible.

We believe that all the authors of the entire Old and New Testaments wrote by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is verbal inspiration, it's called. Those books are completely inerrant and infallible in the original writings, and they are the final authority for faith and practice and the means through which believers behold Christ. Why do we say that they are completely inerrant and infallible in the original writings. And how many original writings do we have? There's only one original. Yeah, the truth is we have no original of any of the Bible. Written over about 1,500 years by about 40 authors. If we did, we'd worship it. We might, yeah. But how can we make that statement when we don't have the originals? One is because of who the author is.

One of the things we've gone over previously is, let's say, for example, of the New Testament. very well over 5,000 fragments to manuscripts, whole manuscripts, handwritten of the New Testament in Greek. By the time you include the other translations, the number is over 25,000. of things that are written in, for example, Syriac or Ethiopic or whatever. Yes, Roy? Yeah, and for most of those ancient writings, what we have in the way of handwritten copies is a dozen or less.

There are just very few exceptions to that. In some cases, it's a single digit. handwritten copies and by point of comparison you make a good point point of comparison we have over 5,000 well over 5,000 copies of the Greek New Testament in terms of complete that in varying degrees when we say the 5,000 some cases all we have is a fragment in other cases we've got the whole thing so When we give that number, it's a range in terms of completeness. So then we say they're the final authority for faith and practice and the means through which believers behold Christ. What do we mean by faith and practice? Okay.

One of the challenges I have, people say, well, can you recommend any books? And we do have books and things of that sort and have those available. In my own case, I say, well, I haven't found anything that beats the Bible. There's various references that I'll use, but it's hard for me to just go out and recommend some book.

All right, so let's talk about then the Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. Certain ministries have been committed to him in this age. About two dozen ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer during this, the church age. About two dozen different ministries. He convicts the world of sin. So let's ask this question. Does the Holy Spirit have a ministry with unbelievers? Yes. It's a different ministry than with us. So the Holy Spirit has a ministry with everyone, but it's a different ministry with those who believe than for those who don't.

It convicts the world of sin, and I think you could use it as a substitute word if it helps, convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He's responsible for the regeneration and dwelling, enlightening, sealing unto the day of redemption. He baptizes each believer into the one body of Christ, the church, and into the person and work of Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection. He transforms each believer into the image of Christ as the believer beholds Christ in the Word of God. So you have the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now, what are the ways in which the Holy Spirit is involved in our study of God's Word? First of all, how did we get God's Word?

Inspiration of the Spirit behind each one of the authors. So we have the writing of it. And so here's the beginning. Is that it? Or do we have anything else going on that the Holy Spirit's involved with regarding His Word? I think that he really helps us to open our ears and our eyes and our heart and our mind to understand the words and the meaning of the words.

Otherwise they're just words. I was just wondering... I've sort of gone away from this, but there's one interpretation in many applications. I'm thinking that many applications we need to be careful of, because it's always here using the word, but one application, showing us Christ, isn't it? It's a question I don't know.

Is there really many applications, or is Holy Spirit really focused on one thing? Well, I think the thing is, the Holy Spirit will focus our attention on Christ, right? The Holy Spirit, as we mention here, is also involved in transforming us as we behold Christ through His Word. So the Holy Spirit has multiple involvements with the Word, including originally inspiring it, right?

And certainly, as we look into the various applications, all of those applications are going to be Christ-centered. So we can say that there are many applications, but none of those are going to be independent of Christ. All of those are going to be Christ-centered applications, and nothing apart. Yeah, Laurie? Can you give me an example so I can make sure I understand the word application? Here's one of the things that I did in both Poland and Uganda. I taught on elders in both places.

And so one of the things is to look at each church is to have elders and a plurality of elders. So that's an application. And so we talked about that. As we read briefly from Titus chapter 1, those elders also are to have character qualifications and operating guidelines, right, in terms of how they operate. They not only have to be able to establish what's true and refute what's false, but also to do it. Just simply having the ability is not enough by itself. So those would be applications to how a church is to be governed.

And now, do churches do it differently? Oh yes, they do. All kinds of churches will do it different ways. as a matter of practice, churches of a Baptist background are inclined to have one pastor and have multiple beacons. But that's not what Scripture says. So the application is going to vary. How about in the individual life of the believer?

Lots of applications. For instance, Scripture would would say, all right, you're to be praying. So there's an application. And then you can look at scripture and say, pray about what? What do I pray about? And so you can find applications for that. Yeah, Crystal?

Somewhat of why, like of what you're talking about is on page 45. It says that it's spoken to while abiding with you, such a helper of the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, who will teach you all things, and bring you to a different life. All that I said to you is, peace I leave with you, peace I give to you, not as a warning, but as a gift to you. Truth, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. So, I mean, that was the significance of the example. Yes, it was. Is there a general principle that, like, the police department will teach us all things in court about who and what it is? I mean, that has to happen.

One of the names of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, right? And so we put that together, and this is the Truth, and the Apostles taught the Truth, right? And you have the Spirit of the Truth. And so the Holy Spirit has a truth ministry, inspiring, starting from inspiring.

And even, think about that, that was specific to the apostles. So they didn't go out there and just do their best to be apostles, did they? They had the Holy Spirit for some purposes that we don't have today. Because what were the apostles going to do? once they're sent out and carrying out their ministry, what are the apostles going to do that we wouldn't?

Well, start the church. Okay, one is they started the church, alright, and what else? Spreading a different gospel, a different teaching. Pardon? They're spreading a teaching that's never been heard before. Okay, so they're kind of first out on this teaching, and which, pardon?

They appointed elders, and they also had delegates that they assigned, Titus and Timothy or two, to appoint elders. Some people have said they acted as a living canon. So the apostles had aspects of their ministry that was unique, and it's not continued. There are no apostles and haven't been since the death of John.

Yes. What did God intend? possible way to do that. And it was also to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah. And that's where they got into a lot of trouble with the Jews. Yes they did. Yes they did. Yes, Laurie? You can tell me if I'm right or wrong, but when I read your verse like that, I see what he's telling us, the apostasy, what I do, I use it throughout scripture, so I'm not wrong. I look and I see that it's like something that's the character of this God who I'm trusting, this God who I believe. I just need to know Him personally, even though I'm not And that's an application, getting to know him, right?

The next one we have down is titled Dispensational Interpretation. We went through a class just not too long ago in the previous elective where we talked about ultimately what the dispensations are is talking about stewardships. And the truth is that there are all kinds of stewardships all the way from the beginning to the end of the Bible. There are stewardships at different levels.

Examples that we could easily identify are there in the garden. Did Adam have a stewardship in the garden? Yes, he did. He had a stewardship in the garden. How did he do with that? Yeah, not so good, right? And so he had a failed stewardship there in the garden, right? Now, let's go to the other end of the Bible. Here's John in Revelation 119.

You must write, by the way, we'll find out that's an Aorist tense. You must write, Aorist tense, the things which were, are, and are to come. So he must write, and how did John do? He did well and what he wrote was inspired writing. And he wrote about everything that he saw except for the seven thunders. He was told not to write about that. But in that, write about everything that he saw.

I get excited about Revelation not because I'm a prophecy nut, but because there's 150 verses on the heavenly scene. That's what gets me excited. The place where I'm seated. with Christ now. There's 150 verses on the heavenly seat. The main idea of dispensational interpretation is that we look at everything in its grammatical and historical context. And we interpret literally what we see, and that includes understanding of figures of speech, that includes symbolism, So when we say literally, it doesn't mean that we're wooden-headed literalists and we can't understand figures of speech and that sort of thing. The fellow who wrote probably the most comprehensive book on figures of speech was a dispensationalist. So it includes understanding poetry as poetry and prose as prose, etc. So it's not literary ignorance, but it's a matter of taking things literally for the reason that we want to understand the intended meaning. It started largely in about the third century where things began to be allegorized. and by forcing an allegory on top of the meaning.

One of the examples that we've given before is in Revelation chapter 7. It talks about the nation of Israel gives a total figure of 144,000. It names the tribes, 12,000 with each tribe, which totals 144, and so it literally looks like 12,000 from each tribe, naming the tribes, and all sum totaled, this is Israel, 144,000. That's a literal understanding.

The allegorized understanding, which is quite common, is that those represent the Christian denominations. That's the allegorized understanding. So, part of the problem with allegory is where do I start and where do I stop. So, you'll have differences among a number of those who do allegorize. And then, if I'm not going to take it literally, what controls how I allegorize it? There isn't any. So there isn't anything to say, where do I start allegorizing and where do I stop? And there isn't any way to control specifically how I allegorize it. The cults love to use allegory because they can make it say anything they want.

For example, Jehovah's Witnesses, you know the place in Revelation where it has the five months of these stinging scorpions and all that? The Jehovah's Witnesses say that the stinging scorpions are the Jehovah's Witnesses, and that the ones that are stinging are us. So that's what that means. That's what they tell the people. Yeah. Well, first of all, it's a false statement. Yeah. Yeah, it's a false statement.

And one of the ways that they'll put that is nobody taught the rapture before, you know, Darby. And he got it from Margaret MacDonald and those kinds of things. So that's the story. The other thing is, when I went through Revelation, I covered the rapture and I went through dozens and dozens of those over the centuries who did, in fact, teach pre-tribulation rapture. And so it's been a persecuted viewpoint And some of the persecutors included Calvin and Luther. But it's been around.

So anyway, it's just a false statement. There isn't any truth to it. So it's on the website in your revelation? Yeah, it should be on the revelation material or I can send it to you. But the idea of dispensational interpretation is basically to look at things literally, including understanding what symbols are. For example, if Christ has eyes that are like a flame of fire, what does that mean?

And understanding the symbolism, and understanding it clearly. One of the things that we do when we go through the book of Revelation in the study is to connect up with the various earlier passages in the New Testament, and particularly in the Old Testament, and get certain identification, that is, having certainty about what this means and that means. It goes every single symbol. can be understood clearly and with certainty. Now, so then let's take a look on topic page three. So we'll be discussing in more detail about why this approach to scripture makes good consistent sense versus other approaches to interpretation, and why the authors of scripture intended their message to be understood in this way. We'll also present that the key to understanding the term dispensation is to observe and understand the many and various stewardships in the Bible. And we're going to interpret those literally.

Then the next one is life and walk of believers. We believe that every believer possesses the life of Christ and grows in the grace and knowledge of Christ through the Holy Spirit, who fills the believer with the things of Christ. This occurs as a believer beholds Christ in the Word of God as he walks by faith, moment by moment, abiding in Christ. So we're not just packing our heads with knowledge here and saying, boy, we sure know a lot of Bible stuff. But instead, we're looking at a very specific approach to Scripture to come up with a specific and certain, assured, understanding to the end result that we know the Lord and have not just relationship, but fellowship with Him.

That's what this is all about. That's what this is focused on. The believer is to walk and rest in the eternally established identity that he possesses by virtue of his faith in the crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated person of Christ. That's his position. We've got a whole elective just beginning today on position. And his identification with him in these things.

Christ's life is then lived in the believer, which is evident to those who do not know Christ and to those who share Christ's life. I think it's interesting when you say walk and rest because so many times people separate those and those are two, I think, connected entities like one coin. It's two sides of one coin. You can't separate those. You hear it all the time. Think about it. Here's the Apostle Paul.

He writes Colossians 1.28 which talks about teaching and admonishing and he uses every one, or every man, three times in that verse, right? And then in verse 29 he says, and to this end I labor. And that word for labor is labor to exhaustion. So he worked really, really, really hard to that end, but then at the end of the verse he says, I don't do it by my own power.

I work really hard. So on the outside, you say, man, that guy is working himself to death. But on the inside, what's empowering? Who's empowering? Now, this is the Lord's working in him to do this, right? So on the outside, he's working himself to death, but on the inside, he's resting. The inside is resting. Yes it is. We never say we breathe and walk, we breathe and use them. Let's take a look here.

I want to get down to the bottom here and then glance on page 4. 1 Peter 2, 1 and 3, here's Peter, and he writes, Therefore, putting aside all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

So what's one of the key and central purposes of God's work? Growing, right? And so one of the reasons why we're offering this elective here is that we want the believers here to grow, right? To understand God's Word and therefore grow in it. Then the next second, Peter 3, 17 and 18, and I'm going to, for the sake of time, zero in on what's bolded there, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So it's not just grow in the grace and knowledge so that you can pass the final exam, grow in the grace and knowledge so that you can get your Master's and PhD from seminary, but grow in the grace and knowledge of Him.

Him. Again, we're studying how do you grow? It's by God's Word. But in the end, we're focusing upon knowing Him. We're focusing on growing in our knowledge of Him. Yeah? You know, we've got to have this discussion about worshiping God in spirit and in truth. And, you know, there's this side of the pendulum, and there's that pendulum. Sometimes people try to separate those or even have them at odds. What you see is love and grace and truth. All those go together, not choose one over the other. At the bottom of page three, I have observation, interpretation, application, and appropriation. We've had questions about appropriation.

We're going to take a closer look at that next week. But what we're going to focus on initially is tools of observation. And we're actually going to spend months on tools of observation. And later on, after... We're done with that. Then we'll look at the principles of interpretation. And so with that, take a look at page four. That's the outline for the next six months here. And we may vary things a little bit as time moves on, but this is the plan in place now. After next week, when we continue with, you know, how do we do this?

We're going to have nine weeks of introduction to New Testament Greek, followed by three weeks of the Greek Old and New Testaments, and particularly looking at how do we use the Greek Old Testament in our study of the New Testament. Because once you've had some training in the Greek tools, you'll be able to use the Greek Old Testament as a powerful study tool. And when we get there, you'll see what that means. Going through word meanings, Old Testament, and word meanings, New Testament.

Figures of speech, which we'll have two Sundays on. Rhetorical writing. Some people are puzzled, why does Paul write things with question marks. Shall I assume that grace may abound? And why does he suddenly start talking about himself? The guys over in Uganda were really puzzled by that. They said that's rhetorical writing. He's not intending to just talk about himself. He's doing it for a particular purpose, to bring emphasis and intensity to it.

Hebrew poetry patterns is one we'll look at here, and poetic forms and sentence diagramming, and we'll have Craig look at putting those two together. Chiasms is another one that we'll take a look at. That's a mirror image in writing. Old Testament history between the Old and New Testaments, New Testament history and Old Testament cultures, and then we'll continue on there. The latter part of the year we'll spend several months going through examples.

That is, how do I study the Psalms? A lot of people read the Psalms and they say, wait a minute, take not your Holy Spirit from me. So, wondering what's that about? And even when Psalms says blessed. Does that mean the same thing for us? Are we blessed differently than the Jews were? Another unique thing about Psalms, it was a collection of, it was Israel's national hymn book basically, over a thousand years time. So it was collected over time and that's not like any of the other books. So, at any rate, this is the quick outline, but initially we're going to be spending months giving you tools of observation before we dig into the interpretation of scripture. So, thoughts, comments, questions?

Yeah, you can't just grow spiritually in the vacuum, right? And you can't just say, well, I have faith. Well, wait a minute. Where are you putting it? Yes, growing in faith, very closely related, they both have an object. Yeah, good point. Anything else?

Okay, let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we begin this fascinating and interesting study of your Word. Very unique book in all the world and we just we thank you for it we thank you that you've given it to us because you love us because you care for us and Just as we look ahead to looking at the different tools for observing in your word we just look to your Holy Spirit to also be working in our hearts and that they might not just be head exercises, but in fact things that you will use as tools to bring us to the truth. And we just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.